1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to apparatus and methods for shredding, grinding, comminuting and weighing vegetative material.
2. Description of Related Art
Herbs, tobacco and other vegetative material will often be shred or ground just before being used, in order to assure freshness of the shredded/ground material. In this specification methods and apparatus for grinding and comminuting are deemed to include methods and apparatus for shredding.
Measuring the amount of shredded/ground material is important to assure that a sufficient amount of the material is prepared. On the other hand, one ought to avoid preparing an excessive amount. While the excess might be stored for later use, this material will tend to quickly lose moisture and freshness and thus become unsatisfactory. To avoid preparing an excess, one can deliver the freshly prepared material to a scale in increments until the desired weight is achieved, but successive transfers of material to a scale is time-consuming.
While food processors, blenders and other devices can comminute vegetative material, they tend to be large and occupy significant storage space. Likewise many weighing devices exist but these can again be bulky. In addition, finding storage space for a separate grinder/shredder and weighing device can often be difficult. Moreover, often one would like to be able to easily transport these devices and use them in situations where electricity or other external power sources are unavailable.
Known weighing devices have zeroing features. For example, a container may be placed on a scale before using a zeroing or tare function. Basically, the weight of the container is eliminated and the displayed weight is compensated to indicate only the weight of the contents of the container.
See also, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,304,363; 4,111,212; 4,605,175; 4,789,106; 5,174,403; 5,329,069; 5,386,944; 5,522,556; and 7,422,170.